Bura language

Not to be confused with Bura language (Vanuatu).

Bura
Mya Bura or Bura-Pabir
Native to	Nigeria
Region	Borno State, Adamawa State, Yobe State, Gombe State
Native speakers	528,000 (2010)
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Chadic Biu–Mandara Bura–Higi Bura languages (A.2) Bura
Language codes
ISO 639-3	bwr
Glottolog	bura1292
Linguasphere	18-GBB-d (-da -db -dc)

Bura-Pabir (also known as Bura, Burra, Bourrah, Pabir, Babir, Babur, Barburr, Mya Bura, Kwojeffa, Huve, Huviya) is a Chadic language spoken in North-eastern Nigeria by the Babur/Bura people. Dialects are Pela, Bura Pela, Hill Bura, Hyil Hawul, Bura Hyilhawul, and Plain Bura. The language is closely related to Kilba, Chibok, Margi and a few order North-eastern Nigerian Languages.

Phonology

Bura has been reported to contrast a voiceless palatal lateral fricative, ʎ̝̊ or 𝼆, which is quite rare. There are thus five laterals in Bura: [l ʎ ɬ ɮ ʎ̝̊], though ʎ̝̊ can be analyzed as a palatalized fricative, /ɬʲ/. Apart from this, its inventory is much like the very complex system of Margi.

Orthography

In the 2010 Bura-English Dictionary Roger Blench proposed an orthography similar to that of Hausa includes the Latin alphabet with the addition of the letters ɓ, ɗ, ə, and ƙ. In addition, the following digraphs are used:

IPA	Orthography
[ɬ]	tl
[ɮ]	dl
[ɣ]	gh

See also

• Bura Sign Language

References

• World Atlas of Language Structures entry for Bura-Pabir